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You can now use AdBlock on your iPhone

If you just heard a sound like a thousand digital advertising executives crying out as one and being suddenly silenced, we think we know why; Adblock has launched on iPhone.

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The app, which originally started as a simple browser extension, makes it possible to browse the web without any pesky, or financially critical, adverts loading on a given page.

With more than 400 million installations on desktop it has clearly demonstrated a demand for its services. With Apple ready to unveil how iOS 9 will let users block some adverts in Safari, Adblock has taken the plunge and launched its own mobile browser, with ad blocking pre-installed.

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Adblock Browser is available for iOS and Android, claims faster page loads, and says it will save 20 percent of a phone's battery life compared to other browsers. Users will be able to block cookies, blacklist malicious domains and stop social sharing buttons loading, but will also be able to manually choose which websites to allow adverts on, if they wish.

Adblock Plus/WIRED

The app comes after a long beta test on both platforms, and at least one attempt back in 2013 to launch on Google Play before it was later pulled. Now the app is live on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. AdBlock said more than 300,000 people downloaded the app in the first week it was made available as a beta on Google Play in May.

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"1.0 is, of course, just the beginning," read a statement from AdBlock. "There’s a long list of things the community wants to see happen, and the list is most definitely not going to get any shorter."

In a separate statement co-founder Till Faida said: "It has been very important for us to deliver our ad-blocking app to our iOS users who do more and more web surfing from mobile devices. With the popularity of the iOS platform in places like the US, we considered it critical to offer an app in the Apple App Store. "We're thankful to Apple for working with us on this project and we look forward to their new iOS 9, which will give web developers additional ad-blocking tools."